My lease ends in March next year, and I fear that I won't be renewing it. I love this apartment to death, I love the people who run this place. This neighborhood has been extraordinarily good to me. My apartment is bright, has a vaulted ceiling and multiple windows, is on the second floor of a two-story complex. Most importantly, I never hear the neighbors through the walls and they never hear me thanks to all the sound-deadening material between apartments. This has been an outstanding place to live.

Unfortunately, however, the federal government, in all their infinite "wisdom," have decided that there shall be no Cost of Living Adjustment (or COLA for short) for 2016, because the cost of living allegedly isn't going up. Never mind, of course, that while my gross income will remain the same, my net will be less because my Medicare premium, which is taken out of the same direct deposit I normally use to pay my rent with, will be going up to the point where I won't be able to afford my rent!

Also, if I were to renew my lease, the landlords will be raising the rent... but the cost of living is actually the same, because the Federal Government says it is, uh huh, yup, sure... sounds legit.

So I've already taken the time to tell management in advance that I won't be seeking to renew my lease. It's a shame I have to do this, but if I can't afford the apartment, I can't afford the apartment. My lease ends in March, so I have a few months to save up for a move. Given that I have no friends here anymore, I'm thinking that I'll be moving to another state again. Probably Washington, where my friends Leshpar and Dhai moved to, but it's too early yet to tell if I'll be able to move there, or if I'll have to find somewhere else to go. I'll give updates as time goes on.

I suppose I could complain about how the federal government is a bunch of greedy fuckers who only care about their own pocketbooks, but that wouldn't accomplish much, except maybe to get a few satisfied laughs from the idiots who screw poor people like me over all the time in the name of "financial responsibility." After all, why abstain from giving yourself a raise when you can just steal that money from the people who actually need it?

UPDATE:

I just got my benefit statements today, and though the gross amount of money will be the same as before, it turns out that I won't be required to pay extra for Medicare, so that's some good news in any case.